Editor’s Note: The Albumism staff has selected what we believe to be the 100 Most Dynamic Debut Albums Ever Made, representing a varied cross-section of genres, styles and time periods. Click “Next Album” below to explore each album or view the full album index here.
HEART | Dreamboat Annie
Mushroom (1976) | Listen Below
Selected by Justin Chadwick
"In a lot of ways, it's easier to be a woman in rock,” Ann Wilson explained to Rolling Stone in 1977. “So many doors are open since we're new and different. I think I'll really like it when people stop thinking of it as a novelty. It'll be neat when it's more commonplace." Though the record industry continues to be plagued by sexism in its various forms four decades later, women in rock have indeed become less of a rarity and more of a powerful creative and commercial force to be reckoned with. Originally released in Canada in August 1975 and six months later in the states, Heart’s debut LP Dreamboat Annie played no small part in chipping away at the music business’ once impenetrable glass ceiling.
Proving that they could rock just as hard as—and at times harder than—their male peers, Ann and her younger sister Nancy co-wrote the majority of Dreamboat Annie’s ten songs, with Ann handling lead vocal duties and Nancy owning all of the acoustic guitar elements. While the electrifying “Magic Man” and “Crazy on You” remain the album’s signature tunes, the more subdued tracks “Soul of the Sea,” “(Love Me Like Music) I’ll Be Your Song,” “How Deep It Goes,” and the title track are all wonderful as well.
Not just one of the finest female rock albums ever recorded, Dreamboat Annie is undeniably one of the entire rock & roll genre’s strongest recordings of all time.
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